The Struggle
by Cagallirocks
Summary: In the midst of a storyboard, Chiaki is faced with a life altering event. How will he cope in the face of what he is loosing? How will he tell Hatori?


**This is my first Sekaiichi Story. I love the series, Chiaki is one of my favourite characters and the idea of writing a story about him was very interesting to me. Review and tell me what you think :D  
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**Chapter 1**

_Beep Beep_

Chiaki groaned at the incessant noise invading his sleep. He thumped around the bedside table until his hand pounded against the snooze button. He smiled at the silence and buried his head further into his pillow.

'Good morning.' He groaned again. Another intrusion. Cracking an eye open he spotted Hatori standing over him, looking down at him.

'Tori? When did you get here?'

'About an hour ago. Breakfast is almost ready.'

Dragging himself out of bed, Chiaki came out into his living room, watching Hatori move around the kitchen preparing breakfast. The smell of the food made his stomach growl, making him blush when Hatori heard it and looked over at him.

'Go wash your face. Ill dish up so you can eat.'Chiaki pulled a face, hating being treated like a kid, and made his way to the bathroom.

Standing in front of the mirror Chiaki couldn't help but notice how pale he looked. He splashed cold water onto his skin, dried his face and exited, feeling slightly more awake now. He entered the main room and found Hatori putting on his jacket and fixing his tie. Walking past him, Chiaki sat down at the dining table and stared at the amount of food in front of him.

'Ahh Tori! How could I live without you?' He exclaimed, picking up a pair of chopsticks and immediately began to dig into the food.

'Just make sure to get the storyboard in on time.' Chiaki couldn't answer, having a mouth full of food, so he just gave a small nod.

'I meant it Yoshino. Don't go over the deadline this month. Your the featured artist in the magazine, so we need to keep on track.'

'I promise. One, maybe two days of work and I will have it ready to review and that will give me time for any rewrites. I'm on track.' Chiaki was proud, he had worked hard to keep on track to make sure he didnt miss this deadline.

'Just make sure you stay that way.'

'I will.' Hatori didnt appear to be too convinced by Chiaki's answer, but he ignored it deciding to trust him in this moment. He turned and grabbed his brief case off the coffee table and headed for the door.

'I need to head to the office. Call me if you finish the storyboard early.'

'Don't work too hard.'

Chiaki watched Hatori leave then turned back to the delicious food.

"Tori always leaves so early, and never eats anything he makes for me." Chiaki thought to himself, picking up a piece of omelette. He made a mental note to make sure Hatori stayed and ate with him next time.

Once he had finished eating, he stacked the dishes together and carried them over to stack in the sink, vowing to wash them later. Walking over to the couch, he bent over and picked up the story board sheets he had laid out, read over the first few pages, then dumped them onto the coffee table. Hatori had corrected the panels, Chiaki;s storyboard was covered in red lines and corrections.

'Storyboard isn't even finished yet, and he's already made more work for me.' Chiaki muttered, deciding to ignore his storyboard for now and take the lovely morning off.

Sitting down he reached for the TV remote only to find a postal envelope addressed to Hatori.

'Important... Sign on delivery...'

Reaching into his pocket he grabbed out his cell and dialled Hatori's work number.

'Marukawa Publishing, Emerald Department. Takano speaking.'

'Yes, this is Yoshino Chiaki.'

'Ahh Yoshino-san. What's the problem?'

'Hatori left an envelope at my place. Does he need it today?'

'Yes. Could you please have it sent to the office?' Thinking for a second, Chiaki decided he needed to get out pf his apartment.

'No need, ill bring it in.'

'Ok. Could you bring it in by about eleven-thirty?'

'No problem.'

'Thank you.' Chiaki ended the call and stood up from the couch. Grabbing a jacket and his keys off the table, he headed to the front door. He slipped on his sneakers and exited, locking the door behind him. Peering at the time on his phone and seeing how much time he had, Chiaki stuffed his phone into his jeans pocket and decided to walk as far as he could.

Walking into Marukawa, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He pulled it out and noticed a text from Hatori asking where he was. Chiaki told him that he was in the building and asked where to meet.

_**Cafeteria**_

Sighing, he stuffed his phone back into his pocket and headed for the cafeteria. Looking around, he saw no sign of his childhood friend, so he took a seat at a table at the far end of the room. He didn't have long to wait, spotting Hatori walking in looking around for him.

'Tori!' Hatori turned and spotted his friend immediately and walked over to him. Hatori sat down in the seat opposite him and reach for the envelope. He opened it and pulled out the contents.

'Thank you. I cant believe I forgot it.'

'Sorry you had to come all the way here.'

'I needed to come out anyway. I have some art stuff to get and I have to find something for Chinatsu. Besides, the fresh air and change of scenery might help me complete the storyboard quickly.' As Chiaki and Hatori stood up, Chiaki felt unsteady and stumbled, nearly falling over if Hatori hadn't caught him by the shoulder.

'Yoshino? Are you ok?' Hatori asked, never removing his hand from Chiaki's shoulder.

'I've just been feeling really tired lately. I don't know why. I've had no trouble actually sleeping.' Not wanting Hatori to worry, he shrugged Hatori's hand off and grabbed his jacket.

'See you later.' He started making his way towards the door only to be stopped by Hatori's voice.

'Ill stop by tonight and check on the storyboard.' Chiaki looked back at Hatori, missing the small strain in his expression at being shrugged off like that.

Chiaki just gave a nod and exited, leaving Hatori who watched him leave, concern written all over his face. Knowing he would see Chiaki later, Hatori headed for the elevator, deciding to concentrate on his work and attempt to ignore the knawing feeling that something was wrong with Chiaki.

'Tori!' Takano entered the elevator seconds before the doors closed.

'Yoshino dropped off the envelope.' Hatori handed him the envelope and Takano read over the first page.

'This should do for the meeting. Lets hope sales listen this time.'

'What was the original amount of copies?'

'Only fifty thousand. It sold out in a matter of days.' Exiting the elevator, the two men made their way to the conference room where the meeting was to be held. Entering, Hatori tried to push Chiaki out of his mind but couldn't. Sighing he forced himself to listen to the meeting once it commenced, promising himself to call Chiaki as soon as he could.

**With Chiaki**

Chiaki just managed to reach the train before the doors shut and it started pulling away form the platform. Collapsing into a vacant seat, he sighed and closed his eyes. He let his head fall back against the train wall and slowly the movements of the train started to rock Chiaki asleep. Before he knew it, the week long sleepless nights toll took effect and he dozed off, effectively missing his stop and many others.

**Hours later**

It was nearing midnight when Chiaki dragged himself through his front door. He felt around the wall for a second, struggling to find the light switch in the dark. Frustrated he dumped the bags on the floor and gave up.

'Dammit, I'm exhausted.' Chiaki sighed, his body feeling the effects of the day. He kicked off his shoes and started towards the kitchen, leaving the bags in the entry way. He took three steps but when he tried to move he found he couldn't. He tried again but his attempts made him sway and loose his balance. He found himself falling forward head first and his head crashed into the floor with a sharp bang.

Chiaki didn't move for a few minutes but even without movement his head was throbbing, making he hesitant to move at all. He could feel a warm liquid trickling from his forehead and scared he shifted one hand and pressed it to his forehead.

'Ow!' He pulled his fingers away and found them covered in blood He started to panic, his breathes short and rapid. Tears started welling up, the pain in his head increasings, blurring his vision.

"Damn it... my vision..." He tried blinking but his vision kept fading. He felt his consciousness slipping, finding it harder and harder to stay awake. Attempting to rise onto his knees, Chiaki failed and fell back down, loosing the battle to stay conscious.

The last thing he saw was the kitchen door before he blacked out completely.

**TBC**


End file.
